Eighty legislators from Utah have submitted an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which the legislators warn the Court that legalizing same-sex marriage would lead to the legalization of incestuous and polygamous marriages. The brief comes following the request for a writ of certiorari from both Utah's Attorney General, Sean Reyes, and the plaintiffs in Kitchen v. Herbert, the case that found both both a district court and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of marriage equality in Utah. As Joe.My.God points out, "the brief is signed by 22 of the 29 members of the state Senate and by 58 of the 75 members of the state House":
The Tenth Circuit did not adequately consider the consequences of its decision for Utah’s prohibitions of polygamous and incestuous marriages. If the choice of marriage partners is an unlimited fundamental right, Kitchen, 755, F.3d at 1215, and if that marriage choice cannot be denied even when a majority believes that choice to be “immoral,” 755 F.3d at 1217 (quoting Lawrence v. Texas, 593 U.S. 558, 571 (2003)), then the fundamental rights analysis applied by the Tenth Circuit will apply with even greater force to consenting adults desiring polygamous marriage or marriage between at least some close relatives. The prohibition of those marriages has always been grounded in morality. Without a moral justification, courts will be obliged to remove existing marriage prohibitions as the U.S. District Court did last month in Utah. See Brown v. Herbert, 2014 WL 4249865 (D.Utah Aug. 27, 2014. Accordingly, this Court should grant certiorari and reverse the Tenth Circuit’s judgment below.
Read the full brief, AFTER THE JUMP…
Utah Legislators Amicus Brief by Equality Case Files
